Win10 build 10525 brings more color, better memory management

Windows 10 may be on the market now, but that doesn't mean Microsoft is halting development of its latest OS. A new Windows 10 preview build, 10525, is available through the Windows Insider program to members in the fast update ring. The new build adds more color customization options, as well as an intriguing memory management improvement.

First, those colors. In Windows 10 build 10240, the version released to the general public, customizing the OS' accent color will change the color of the taskbar, the Start menu, and Action Center, as well as some highlight colors in universal Windows apps. In build 10525, that color choice will extend to window title bars, as well.

Microsoft also says it's improved the performance of build 10525's memory management. When Windows 10's memory manager begins to run out of physical memory in this build, it'll compress unused pages in physical memory rather than writing them out to disk. The company says this behavior results in reduced memory usage per process, allowing the OS to keep more programs in physical memory at a time. The net result should be improved responsiveness. Users will see the compression store in action as part of the System process' memory usage in Task Manager, which will appear to be greater than its memory usage in previous Windows releases.

Build 10525 does have a few issues: mobile hotspots hosted on Windows 10 devices won't work in this build, and preview users will need to download an update to the Movies and TV app to fix video playback after installing the build. No word on when regular Windows 10 users will see these improvements, but given Microsoft's treatment of Windows 10 as a service, we'd expect them to filter out to regular folks eventually.